Diversity can be profitable

Carolina Belting realizes it has to keep its product options open

By Joe Nowlan, Associate Editor -- Industrial Distribution, 12/1/2006

Baseball great Satchel Paige once said, “Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you.”

The same philosophy has helped Carolina Belting survive for 70 years. At one time, its customers were mostly in textile-related industries, says its president Bob Hammersla. But as the textile industry moved overseas, Carolina Belting realized it had to adjust.

“We had to diversify as the textile companies moved away,” he says. “We had to do something, or die.”

Carolina Belting is located in Taylors, S.C., a suburb of Greenville and an area where a number of manufacturers are located. As industries moved away, Carolina Belting realized its answer was to move on to other local industries and potential customers.

“We have a diverse manufacturing base here,” Hammersla explains. “Tires, pharmaceuticals, food processing, and auto supplies, among others.”

Hammersla has been at Carolina Belting for two years, but the diversification of its customer base started before his arrival, he explains. He is generous in crediting his predecessor, Bill Loftis, as someone who saw how crucial those changes would be for a small, independent company. Loftis started what is now a key to the company's growth: an added emphasis on power transmission.

“Bill was already selling solutions to problems,” Hammersla explains, “and it so happened that many of those problems were in the power transmission area.”

Loftis is still involved with Carolina Belting and has remained a trusted advisor to Hammersla, who laughs and calls him “the president-emeritus and world renowned scholar of the belting industry.”

Loftis says he had no actual background in power transmission when the company began to look into it more—but he figured things out.

“I lined myself up with some good reps and good lines. We'd take on a couple of good lines a year and spend time developing them,” he says.

Since becoming Carolina Belting's president two years ago, Hammersla has expanded on what Loftis began and has emphasized the move into more power transmission work.

“It's an easy sell once you convince the existing customer base that buys belts from us. [Most of them] buy that PT stuff from somebody,” Hammersla explains. “It is easier to work with an existing customer base.”

Hammersla says there are no secrets to succeeding as a small, independent company.

“I don't think there are any tricks in this business. It's just hard work and customer focus,” he says.

The company has emphasized its quarterly maintenance program, keeping its customers ahead of any breakdowns, while also giving Carolina Belting salespeople an idea of what parts to keep stocked if a vital piece of equipment breaks down.

“We'll replace the parts and stock them. So from then on we'd be prepared to service any emergencies, if necessary,” Hammersla says.

As an independent distributor, they know that this sort of customer service is essential.

“To think you're going to go up against the Motions of the world on just price would be deluding ourselves,” he explains.

The company is aware of the potential that lies virtually in its own backyard.

“There's so much manufacturing and industry in this Greenville area. We just have to go out and get their business,” he says.